National Statistics Office

Directorate B: Business Statistics

Unit B2: Short-term Statistics

National Statistics Office, Lascaris Valletta, VLT 2000, Malta

Variable C-210 (empl) represents employment in Annex C

The classifications used in STS is NACE rev.2

For the this variable the kind of activity unit is used.

The Maltese Islands.

The data is available from 2000.

2010

The data is provided in index form.

2012

The NSO was established by virtue of the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000 and replaced the Central Office of Statistics as from 1 March 2001. http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/MaltaStatisticsAuthorityAct.pdf. This variables.

The employment variable is regulated by the STS regualtion.

Data Sharing matters are governed by the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000.

Apart from the established legislative framework the NSO is also guided by the internal policy procedures noted in the document; The National Statistics Office Confidentiality of personal and commercial data policy. This document is published on the organisations website: http://nso.gov.mt/en/nso/About_NSO/Documents/NSO_Policies/Confidentiality_of_personal_and_commercial_data.pdf

Confidentiality matters are regulated by the Malta Statistics Authority Act XXIV of 2000. When a dataset is considered as confidential it is tagged as such and it is not free to public.

All releases are published and disseminated at 1100 hrs as scheduled in the Advance Release Calendar. The calendar is published on the NSO website (http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx) and includes a 3 month advance notice (the current month and the forthcoming two months).

An advance release calendar is published on the NSOs website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/news_release_calendar.aspx

National statistical releases are issued according to the release calander and are made available to all users simultaneously. All releases are posted on the organisations website, www.nso.gov.mt.

Transmissions to Eurostat for this varibale occurs 2 months after the end of the reference period. National news release are published according to the the news release calendar. The data set is on a quarterly basis.

The main dissemination channel for official statistics is the NSO website (http://www.nso.gov.mt). The emplyment data is published in a qaurterly news release.

The short-term statistics only publishes its figures in an annual compendum named Malta in Figures.  The publication can also be accessed from NSOs website by making use of the following link http://nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=142

The NSO website also offers an online statistical database (StatDB) that provides a more in-depth analysis for the more expert statistical user or researcher. The StatDB requires a registration as only registered users can extract data from the database. Registration is free-of-charge and is required to  allow the NSO to receive important feedback from the more expert users of official statistics. Each data set has a ‘last updated’ date clearly indicated andsimilar data published in other statistical products may not add up due to revisions/updates.

In general, index results made available to Eurostat  ensure a sufficient degree of representativeness of data. In limited cases, when confidentiality clauses are not within the remit of the Malta Statistical Authority Act (2000) or Article 20 of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009, data is flagged confidential.

No microdata is provided to researchers.

Data transmission is provided to eurostat.

Not available

Quality reports are required by the Commission according to article 14(2) of the STS-regulation.

The NSO quality assurance principles are developed according to the ESS Handbook for Quality Reports (2008) and an internal document, Policy on the Documentation of Data Quality and Methodology. The latter is published on the NSOs website, http://nso.gov.mt/docs/Documentation_of_data_quality_and_methodology.pdf

The quality of the employment data is considered of good quality.

The spectrum of users of short-term statistics is widespread and therefore it is difficult to identify them in order of importance. Amongst the various one finds the government with particular reference made to the Ministry of Finance, other governmental departments such as the Economic Policy Division. Other institutions such as the Central Bank of Malta make frequent reference to the data this unit publishes. The general business community and educational institutions also make use of our statistical indicators.

Not available

Data are compliant with relevant Europan and local regulations

The overall accuracy of variable D-210 (empl) is considered to be of good quality.

Coefficient of variation (2.23%)

Since this variable is observed with a sample survey, Non-sampling errors are a consequence of any surveying method and are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to measure. In general, these errors are the result but are not limited to problems such as under or over coverage, non-response, data-processing, estimation and analysis. Most often such errors are grouped into two cohorts: random or systematic errors.

Data for variable D-210 is published according to EU regulations. The reference period is quarterly and is submitted to Eurostat every 2 months.

The NSO is comitted to adhere to the timelines established by the STS regulations and also issues news information releases according to its pre-published calandar. In 2013 all deadlines were respected.

To ensure geographical comparability across member states the index is compiled according to the STS regulation and STS methodological guidelines. Minor methodological deviations may exist due to specific conditions that apply to each member state. The Maltese are all equally covered by the sample.

The data series has been compiled since the year 2000. The first set of indicators were based on NACE Rev 1. Following 2009 the indicator was published according to the new NACE Rev 2 classification. Furthermore, for every year ending in 0 or 5 new fixed aggregation weights are introduced.

Data is cross checked against administrative sources.

Not applicable

Data burden on NSO is considered to be 84 hours per year. From the respondents point of view we do not have data available.

Revisions are carried according to regulation No1165/98. Internal procedures are also established and are published in the  document, Revisions of official Statistics published on the NSO website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=582

Revisions are carried according to regulation No1165/98. Internal procedures are also established and arepublished in the  document, Revisions of official Statistics published on the NSO website: http://www.nso.gov.mt/site/page.aspx?pageid=582. The data marked as provisional may change from on publication to another however the changes are not significant.

Sample survey of 476 units.

Quarterly

Data is collected by means of  a statistical questionnaire. Questionnaires are sent by post and their collection can be done via post, fax, e-mail or online systems

Data is validated through regular checks throughout the system lifecycle being during data input stage, data processing and analysis stage. Various analytical checks are executed by our statisticians while other validations are in-built in our data systems.

Before the transmission checking is done for file formats, code lists and consistency are checked with the use of excel and access databases.

The short term indicies for retail are fixed-base indices (2010=100.0) calculated using a variation of the Laspeyres formula. A nominal index is derived and 2010 is used as the reference year.

Unadjusted, trend and calendar adjusted.

Not available